Monthly Archives: June 2019

Quora – Ancient super civilisation

Quora – Could there have been a super civilization in the past? Haven’t they found evidence of extremely wide ancient roads under the Amazon? Almost certainly not. The evidence for that assertion, biogeography – the distribution of plants and animals. … Continue reading

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UBI

Project Syndicate – Why Universal Basic Income Is a Bad Idea UBI is not a systemic solution, and it can be an effective part of a transition strategy. What is happening now is unlike anything that has ever happened before. … Continue reading

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Daniel S – What legislation would be most meaningful to pass and why

A response to Daniel’s Facebook Post What legislation would be most meaningful to pass or amend in the US, at a federal level, if it was possible? Why? Some profound difficulties with the question Daniel. In the short to medium … Continue reading

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Quora – Purpose

Quora – What are the factors that define our purpose in life? Like many others here have written, our definition of purpose seems to result from an extremely complex and potentially infinitely extensible set of factors including: many levels of … Continue reading

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Quora – What is humanity’s greatest achievement?

Quora – What do you think humanity’s greatest achievement is? Moved to – What is man’s greatest achievement of all time? Beginning to understand the role of cooperation in the evolution of complexity (orders of magnitude more important than competition).

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Quora – Are any life forms essentially immortal?

Quora – Are there any lifeforms that are essentially immortal? If so what is keeping them from aging? Most of them. Essentially – all bacteria and single celled organisms. They all divide at some point, but both the cells that … Continue reading

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Quora – AI & creativity

Quora – Can we create an artificial intelligent system which can think creatively? Short and obvious answer is yes – beyond any shadow of reasonable doubt. The long answer is beyond the scope of a post like this, but if … Continue reading

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Freedom – once again

Freedom John posted a Sarte quote “Freedom is what you do with what has been done to you”. Dirk responded “Freedom from something, and liberty to act somehow.” Freedom is one of the most complex ideas I have considered. There … Continue reading

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Laurie – Labyrinth Walking

Laurie’s Blog – Labyrinth Walking Laurie asked: What question or prayer would you contemplate on a labyrinth walk? For me, the question would be the same one I have been asking since 1974: What sort of social, political and technical … Continue reading

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Quora – creating AI

Is it possible for an intelligent being (such as a human) to create something more intelligent than the most intelligent human? As many others have stated, it depends on how one defines both “create” and “intelligence”. Evolution as a process … Continue reading

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